Hardware needs to turn a new page in online education
By Cheng Yu
China Daily
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A student attends an online class at home in Changchun, Northeast China's Jilin province, Feb 24, 2020. (Photo: Xinhua) 

More efforts are needed to upgrade the hardware equipment for online learning, so as to meet the surging demand of studying at home after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, according to a latest report.

Though the epidemic has brought the country's online education to a new high, more than 90 percent of online education users surveyed said there remains room for improvement while teaching and studying online.

"To have more abundant teaching resources and tailor-made learning resources as well as student management system" have become their main appeals.

The findings are part of a latest report released by US chip giant Intel Corp and Chinese tech heavyweight Tencent. The report surveyed over 3,900 teachers and students in the K12 sector.

"With more deeper understanding on the education scenarios, we feel it is necessary to define the next-generation learning equipment for K12 students," Wang Zhicong, vice-president of sales and marketing group at Intel, said.

It is not just a hardware. The PC should have better interaction with cloud, Wang said. "For example, to redefine the functional hardware of the PC itself and to support it with operating systems, software, and resources on the cloud."

Last year, Intel cooperated with different partners to launch PCs that are specialized for students and said it will upgrade them to meet more diversified demand this year.